When my alarm went off Monday morning, I bet that I would have had a lot more pep in my step, had I known what the island would be like that I was about to be on in less than four hours.
Because it was just a quick and overnight stay, our backpack was still packed and all we had to do was roll up our sleep sacks, brush our teeth, and head out to the curb. At seven o'clock, our cab driver had arrived and we waited for Nicki and Erin to meet us. After a couple minutes, Niki ran upstairs to see what they were doing while I stood at the curb with the cab. The cab driver tried to pipe up a conversation with me and I apologized and told him that I don't speak much Spanish. A quick minute later, Niki came back outside and said, "They'll be down in five, they are just getting up." Apparently their alarm didn't go off, so we laughed as they came down sleepy eyes and rushed.
A ten to fifteen minute cab ride put us at the ferry docks for Utila island. According to word of mouth and our travel books, Utila island was supposed to have great scuba diving and I was so excited to see for myself. We went to the ticket window and found that the next ferry didn't leave until 9:30, so we had some time to kill. For a steep price of about twenty five U.S. dollars, we purchased our ferry tickets and walked to get some breakfast. Coming in the service drive to the docks, we had passed a small cafe, so we headed that way.
The diner was small, smaller than Olden Days Cafe in Fowlerville and the local guards that were eating their morning breakfast and reading the newspaper looked at us as we walked in with our big backpacks and took a seat. The larger woman running the show greeted us without menus and asked for our orders. Without menus, we basically just ordered whatever she was making, which was eggs, tortilla, sausage, refried beans and gallo pinto. The girls ordered that and I asked for only gallo pinto. So far, throughout this trip, that has been the most simple, yet hard to receive order I've given. I had tried at Santa Cruz on Ometepe a few times and always got something else with it. Again in Nosara, I ordered only gallo pinto, the lady nodded her head yes and yet when my plate came, it looked just like the other girls' with eggs and tortillas as well.
We waited a while for our food and when it came, it was just like I had expected, just like the other girls. Scrambled eggs, beans, tortilla, a small sausage, rice and sour cream covered my plate, but I didn't say anything. Even though I didn't order the extra food, it still went down mighty fine when I was eating it. :)
After breakfast, we walked back to a much more populated ferry deck. It seemed like about ten more people had arrived since we left for breakfast and were patiently waiting for the go ahead to board the ferry. As we waited, I grabbed my nicer camera and was sure to grab a few photos of the ferry and the mountains and hills all across the shore's horizon.
When we were given the go ahead, we flocked for the ferry and patiently handed our things to the guys loading the luggage part of the boat. We walked aboard and were surprised to see that the layout of the ferry was actually a bunch of booth tables instead of seats facing forward. That was a great idea, because we could journal and rest our arms on the table for an hour ferry ride.
As the boat headed out, I began to look more out the window and at the water, than at the blog note I had going in my hand. I looked out the window at the vast amount of blue waves in every direction, wondering what was going on in the world below the sea.
A couple times, I saw flying fish hop up out of the water and fly a very long distance. I saw a bird flying as fast as the boat, before it dove straight down into the water to catch a fish.
After an hour ride, our ferry tied up to the docks on Utila island and we headed up the one street toward the town. We were bombarded with dive shop flyers and staff, but didn't mind because we were already pretty sure we knew where we wanted to stay because of our book.
A guy from Alton's Dive Center rounded us girls up and we hopped into the van for a ride there. Beto, a local guy about our age rode in the passenger seat and wowed us with his perfect English. We told him that we thought he was from California, based on his accent and he just told us that he's practiced since a young age.
We pulled up to the dive center and were greeted by all of the friendly staff. Nina, a German lady, introduced herself and showed us around and where we'd be staying. Walking down a long dock with water on one side, we passed bunk rooms, then a room with machines where they fill tanks, then the equipment room and then a small bar and cafe area. After that, the dock opened up to water on both sides, and at the end was a large two story deck or gazebo equipped with hammocks, benches and chairs for relaxing by the water. This place was awesome and their prices on open water scuba certification classes were awesome. For $279, I would earn my certification in four days, which included room and board, four dives, the learning material and classroom time, PLUS two free fun dives after our course was complete. To me, it was just a price and I was happy with it, but the girls I was with were floored at how good of a deal this was. A comparable class in the states would cost me around $500. That really opened my eyes to how good of a deal this was.
Returning to the lobby area, our backpacks were already unloaded from the van and brought in and under the porch roof for us. It was only about eleven in the morning, so we had a few hours to kill before we had to start class. Nicki Post was the only one taking the class with me because Niki and Erin had already earned their certification years ago.
For those couple hours, we suited up, lathered up with sun lotion and enjoyed the sun for a little while. We also walked up town to the ATM and checked out the local grocery store. At three o'clock, we started our class by watching movies and filling out knowledge review sheets and were done by seven.
During our class, Niki and Erin had made some friends on the outside and we went to a local pub with them to watch a futbol game and eat some pizza. It wasn't too late of a night, because we had to dive the next day. It was so nice to be in an area where we knew we'd stay for a few days, especially after so many hours on buses the past couple days. I was looking forward to making Utila feel like home and was sure that it wouldn't take long.
Photos:
1) View before ferry ride from La Ceiba
2) Classroom time
3) Sunset at Alton's
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